New holiday shows to watch this year

Monday

Nov 26, 2012 at 12:01 AMNov 26, 2012 at 8:35 AM

Five shows to watch this holiday season.

Tribune Media Services

Finding Mrs. Claus (12/2, Lifetime)

Las Vegas isn’t the first location that comes to mind when you think of Christmas, but it’s the setting for this new holiday tale. Oscar winner Mira Sorvino (“Mighty Aphrodite”) has the title role of Santa’s spouse, who’s feeling neglected by her husband (Will Sasso, “The Three Stooges”) as the big night approaches. She decides to visit Vegas – not to gamble but to help make a Christmas wish come true for a little girl who lives there. A repentant Santa follows her there, and what happens in Vegas puts Christmas in jeopardy.

American Giving Awards (12/8, NBC)

What better time than the season of giving to honor great givers? Joel McHale (“Community”) hosts this special, which honors the United States’ most deserving charities and gives one of them a $1 million donation, with six-figure awards for the runners- up. Online votes pick the winner from five organizations representing education, human rights, health and wellness, community leadership and youth groups. Musical performances and special surprises are also on tap.

The Mistle-Tones (12/9, ABC Family)

Holly (Tia Mowry), a talented young singer, is distressed to discover that a coveted position in a Christmas choir has gone to the director’s less-talented best friend (Tori Spelling). She starts her own group, the Mistle-Tones, and challenges the other ensemble to a sing-off on Christmas Eve. Along the way, she gains some new friends, a new love and a new appreciation for the season in this tuneful new tale.

Help for the Holidays (12/9, Hallmark Channel)

Summer Glau (“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) stars in this new fantasy as Christine, one of Santa’s elves who loves Christmas but is bored with the North Pole life. When Santa receives an urgent wish from a youngster (Mason Cook), he puts Christine on the case. The boy and his sister (Izabela Vidovic) want a real family Christmas with their parents (Eva La Rue, Dan Gauthier), who are too busy running a holiday store to pay attention to their kids. As their new nanny, Christine sets out to effect an attitude adjustment.

Royal Pains: Off-Season Greetings (12/16, USA Network)

Wedding bells are ringing along with the Christmas bells in this two-hour holiday-themed episode of the hit cable drama series about a concierge doctor in New York’s exclusive Hamptons enclave. As Paige and Evan’s (Brooke D’Orsay, Paulo Costanzo) long-awaited nuptial day approaches, Evan and his brother, Hank (Mark Feuerstein), head to Las Vegas for the bachelor party. Paige and Divya (Reshma Shetty) go out of town for a bachelorette getaway of their own but wind up in Vegas themselves through a series of bizarre circumstances. Surprises await all of them in Sin City, along with the opportunity for someone to take a gamble that could change everything. Back in the Hamptons, a snowstorm threatens to scuttle Hank and Paige’s best-laid plans for a dream wedding day. Along the way, fans of the series will get a peek at the Lawson brothers’ childhoods, meet Hank’s first love, and discover how Hank’s previous romances and his relationship with his brother made him the man he is today. Emma Caulfield plays one of those women from Hank’s past, and Jill Flint returns to the role of Jill Casey, now working in Africa.